San Diego Union Tribune: A needed scandal

UNION-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL

A needed scandal

Abramoff mess might finally spur reform

January 5, 2006

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A you-scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-yours ethos suffuses politics inside the Beltway, especially in the House of Representatives. This affliction inevitably metastasizes the longer one party holds power and makes the rules. It took the Republican-controlled House less than a dozen years to match the tawdriness demonstrated by Democrats toward the end of their 40-year House reign.

That's why it's no surprise that most of the 20 or so lawmakers likely to face tough questions over their various gifts from Abramoff are Republicans. Two of the GOP's House power brokers – former Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and Administration Committee Chairman Bob Ney of Ohio – are in the most hot water.

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This ethical lassitude is so entrenched that only if the Abramoff affair turns into a huge mess – as big as the Abscam bribery scandal of the late 1970s and early 1980s, which led to the convictions of six House members and the resignation of a senator – will lawmakers clean up their act. If they ever do so, here's a short list of obvious reforms:

Ban the 200-plus ex-congressmen now working as lobbyists from walking freely onto the House floor during sessions.
Stop allowing lawmakers to use "earmarks" to provide millions to favored companies and organizations without the usual public scrutiny.
Require the deliberations of all conference committees – in which differences between House and Senate bills are reconciled and earmarks are smuggled into legislation – to be public.
Mandate that the language of all bills be posted on the Internet at least 24 hours before they are voted on, except when a supermajority of the House or Senate agrees otherwise.

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then just a few changes are needed. Money can not be allowed to run the system.